[브랜드 다큐멘터리] BLUE BOTTLE COFFEE

We all have heard of the idea of
taking a “coffee break.” It’s when we take a break from the hustle and bustle
of our busy lives and refresh with a cup of coffee. Similarly, people rely on
coffee for its stimulating effect when they need to stay focused and totally
immersed in a task. To some, coffee is something like a delicacy, and these
aficionados take extra time to seek out the best coffee joints as they traverse
the world. Others equip their kitchens with coffee makers and other
paraphernalia to craft the best self-brewed cup of joe in the comfort of their
own home. And in this digital era, coffee draws people out to offline
gatherings. In short, the way contemporary society consumes coffee is nothing
short of a craze. And it wouldn’t be overreaching to say that coffee is the
only beverage with such a significant social and cultural influence for as long
as it has. One of my interviewees, a businessman from California, said, “the US
was built on coffee.”

This coffee craze has largely been
propelled forward by certain coffee houses or brands, rather than by the coffee
itself. Blue Bottle Coffee, featured in this issue, is the leading coffee brand
behind the beverage’s phenomenal popularity for the last decade. As a
frontrunner of specialty coffee—which is regarded as the third wave of
coffee—Blue Bottle Coffee managed to create its own distinctive tastes and
improve the entire coffee experience. Thanks to the brand’s concerted efforts,
the high-end coffee industry has seen incredible growth over the years. Harking
back to our publication seven years ago, B also covered Intelligentsia, another
specialty coffee brand that is often referenced alongside Blue Bottle.

Featuring these two specialty coffee
brands seven years apart, B discovered some interesting facts. In 2012, the
concept of specialty coffee was just gaining momentum with mainstream
consumers, and Blue Bottle, Intelligentsia, and other specialty coffee brands
were not much different from one another. They all sought to connect with local
communities, provide customized services, and improve distribution and farming
systems. Specialty coffee carved out its stake in the market, and Blue Bottle
Coffee decidedly embarked on a different path with an insatiable desire to
discover and start another new wave in the industry. A good brand grows as it
establishes core values and commits to them, and Blue Bottle took this concept
one step further to expand and modify brand values so that it would stay
relevant as a brand through changing times. In this process, brands often risk
losing some of their customer base and get involved in a few internal quarrels.
But this seems inevitable, as new things can only be achieved when a few brave
visionaries take that important leap of faith.

As Blue Bottle founder James Freeman
put it: “If we were so boring and obsessed over brand purity as others do, then
we would’ve never started serving lattes. We will never be that company.” Excellent
sports teams experiment day in and day out with new tactics and bolster players
to triumph amid generational changes. Similarly, Blue Bottle held back nothing
and embraced new frontiers without reservation. The brand acquired a coffee
bean subscription startup and a grinding tech firm, improved its website with a
bit of help from Google Ventures, and established a systematic employee
training program. All these initiatives are part of the brand’s ever-evolving
road map. This issue of B presents Blue Bottle’s story of passion from 2002 to
today, starting with the first tasty coffee they ever brewed to the
establishment of their brand value to make good coffee accessible to everyone.
Moving forward, I hope this brand’s stories provide readers an opportunity to
stop for a moment, just like a coffee break, and reflect on what it means to
grow.